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Friday, October 29, 2010

Today, I went over to Best Buy to get help with downloading pictures from my camera to my Ipad. I spoke with Brad, he also tried to download them but couldn't, so I thought I would get a new memory card. Over in that department Tyler was able to help. I purchased the card and of course I had to make sure that it worked. Tyler was a good sport and let me take his picture. Now to try to post the picture. I'm not having any luck. It may be because Blogger might not be compatible with retrieving photos or the blogger (me) just doesn't know how, probably the latter rather than the former. Sorry another post with no pictures.

In answer to Pidge, the pumpkins that I did were done using those stenches that you attach and then cut out. There were so many to do that I just found the easiest ones and then used my drill to drill holes to spell out Boo at the Zoo, not very creative. BTW, for some reason I couldn't publish your comment, I tried.

Even though I was off work today, I went in to check out the decorations. Some of the teams went all out. There were underwater themes, above the water pirates, cowboys and indians and a lot of others that I didn't check out. I took pictures and was able to download them onto my Ipad, but not able to get them posted. Sorry. One of these days I'll figure it out.

This afternoon Bob came over to go over what we can do in the backyard. It will probably be close to a thousand dollars to add irrigation and either sod or pavers of some kind. When all this rain is over I will have to spray Roundup to kill all the Bermuda grass and then get rid of the bark mulch before we can do whatever we decide to install. After our meeting, Angel and I went Silverado Building Materials to check out what's available. They have tons of ideas for landscaping, (pun intended) but they are so expensive. I still have to work with in a budget and Bob will help me do that.

After a bowl of soup for dinner and a bit of TV, it's off to bed. Hope you all have a great Halloween weekend.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Well today was the day for our team at work to volunteer at the Sacramento Zoo. We were expecting it to rain, but fortunately it wa clear and very mild. I think I even got a little bit too much sun. There were three tables set up for pumpkin carving. I don't know how many we all did, but I know how many I did, four very large ones. There were at least thirteen of us. There were the pumpkins, spiders and webs, floating ghosts and the graveyard. We all got a lot done in about six hours. I took a bunch of pictures, but I haven't figured out to how to transfer them from my camera to my Ipad.

That is one thing that I miss about my laptop, being able to manipulate pictures. I haven't been able to make prints of my watercolors either, but I digress.

The rest of the week at work was really busy, so busy that we didn't have much time to decorate for Halloween. At work if is a really big deal, with contests, games, food and BOO Bucks. The bucks are hidden all over the center. When you find them you enter them in a raffle for all kinds of gift card, Tomorrow is when the they do the judging. It is also the day that our CEO gives the "State of the Company" presentation. It is on closed circuit tv, so we get to see everyone else in costume. They also provide Pizza for the whole company. I won't be there because it's my day off, but that's okay with me. I don't get that involved with it, although I help with what ever they ask me to do. This year our team's theme was the Wild West, I helped by drawing Indian images on a canvas teepee.

The only other thing that happened at work is that I hit the magic number (75) on Saturday. (age + years of service) which means that I will be able to retire with some the company paying part of my benefits. Saturday will be my tenth anniversary. During our team meeting yesterday I received a $150.00 credit card. Yea! That will sure come in handy for Christmas.

Tomorrow I should find out about what it will cost to have the yard done and hopefully when we can do it. I'll be glad when it is all done. Time is just flying by. The holidays are almost here and Mellissa and the kids will be here the end of December. I'm beginning to feel a bit of stress, but I will just have to deal with it and keep focused on the "Dream".

Well that should get you all caught up. Now I have to get caught up with all of you.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

It's been a while since I've posted because I had to take my laptop in to have the screen replaced before the 1st year warranty is up. It will take two to four weeks before it will be done, but in the meantime, everything that I do is online, bills had to paid, etc.. I had not planed on getting an Ipad for a while, but does solve that problem. The wish list has changed. I guess I'm getting used to plans written in smoke (as Marikay puts it). I'm really liking the Ipad. Although I have been using Live Writer for my blog, I don't think that the Ipad supports that program. At least I have figured out how to get my blog done. The rest of Friday had me running errands. Flu shot, done, get a tarp to cover the painting for transport, done, feed the car, done, and took money out of one bank and put it in another so I can pay off a couple of credit cards, done. The car needs the oil changed, but had to wait a day.

Saturday, bright and early we (Angel and I) took the car in for the oil change, also had the tires rotated, had them replace the wiper blades and check all the fluids. The rest of the morning and early afternoon had me getting the second bedroom ready for Ted and trying to get familiar with the Ipad. There definitely a learning curve because it is a Mac not Windows.

Ted was in town for our church's 50th Anniversary. Ted would be transporting the painting to the dinner. It's good thing he has a pickup with the back covered, because it rained all day. We got it to the dinner in time. We left it covered until the presentation. It was a real nice evening. The place was packed, with the current members and a lot of former members. There was a lot of reminiscing among everyone and people visiting with others that they hadn't seen in years. Most of those I did not recognize. I'm one of the new members, been there only eleven years. The choir sang a couple of selections and the I presented the painting. Those that have talked to me had nothing but compliments. After the dinner was over, we had to break everything down and bring tables, the painting and a lot of other stuff back to the church. It was a very busy day. When we were done, we went home and after Ted helped me with adding things to the Ipad, it was off to bed.

Today, we went to church and after we went to Best Buy to pick up a back up CD from my laptop (just in case). I also got a car charger and a camera connection kit. Now I have to figure out how to use it.

Last week went by soooooo slow and it is already Sunday. Another four day work week, sort of. Thursday is our team's volunteer day. We will be going to the Sacramento Zoo. The zoo has "BOO at the ZOO" every Halloween. What we do is help them set it all up. Last year I carved pumpkins and this year I expect to do the same. It is a lot of fun and we get paid to do it.

That's about all that I've been up to. Just wanted to catch you all up. I am still trying to catch up on reading all the blogs that I follow. I hope that you all have had a wonderful week and weekend. Take care and enjoy each other.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Just a quick post. Today has been a very slow day. Only went to Starbuck's for coffee with a couple of friend after church. When I got home it started to rain and has been raining since. I think that it is beginning to clear. It has been a while and have really enjoyed listening to the rain and it being cool. Angel needed her new sweater.

I have been catching up on reading blogs and was shocked at the news of the untimely death of Margie and Bruce while on their morning walk in Pismo Beach. My sympathies go out to their family and friends. At the very least they were together doing what they enjoyed doing. They were an inspiration to me and I enjoyed reading about their life on the road.

I am reminded that life is short, we never know how long we will be here on this earth. We must all do that we can to make the most of the time we have, loving and caring for those with whom we come in contact. I hope that you all have a safe week.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

It's already Saturday and I haven't posted. There is a reason, Tuesday I received emails from several people regarding emails from me that I didn't send. I was also getting a lot of notifications of undeliverable emails. Not knowing what that was about, I just stopped using the computer until I could find out what was going on. Four day work week meant it would be Friday. I took the laptop to visit the Geek Squad at Best Buy where I have an extended warranty. Fortunately I only had to change my password. Hopefully that will work. While I was there the tech told me about Open Office. Has anyone out there in blog land used this? The reason that I want to try it is to use the spreadsheet function (I have never used a spreadsheet on a computer before). It would come in handy listing all of my art projects and keeping track of sales etc.. He also showed me the I Pad, wow, It hardly weighs anything and does so much. For a mere 499.00 to 699.00 you too can have one that doesn't need to be near a hot spot to use it. Wish List!!!!

This past week took forever while I was at work. Three day work weeks has me spoiled. Those four days are hard and I am exhausted by Thursday night. Then this past Thursday night I had our 50th Anniversary choir practice. Good thing we have sung these before. There was a lot of yawning going on (me, no one else). There was a good turnout, even a few that haven't been in the choir before.

Later on Friday I had someone come out to give me an estimate for getting my yard done. There are two tree stumps to get out. In addition to the lemon tree I posted a few days ago, there is a peach tree that came down a couple of years ago (behind Angel). I want to use pavers and building blocks that I already have, so there may be another patio in the works. The rest of the yard would be grass with irrigation. Low maintenance is the goal.

Maybe a screen of some sort to block off the yard next door? This is a big yard for a mobile home park. It is too much for me, but it will be fine for Mellissa and the kids.

After watering, trimming and cleaning out dead leaves and spent flowers from the morning glory, Angel and I went to visit Linda and her dog Lacey, she is going to give some of the extra paints that I have to her students for me.

Since I've been working on my cards, the purging has taken a back seat. I need to get back to concentrating on that soon. The spare bedroom has to be cleaned out for the kids when they come and for Ted for now when comes to help do what ever needs to be done. There's no end to the "honey do" list. I really appreciate it when he can come all the way from San Francisco to help even though he works sometimes 60+ hours. He will be here next weekend for the Church Anniversary.

That's about all that has happened this week, just mundane stuff, but that's what most prep work is, dull and boring. I can take that as long as I know that the new lifestyle is in the foreseeable future.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

This morning on my way out the door, on my way to church I started to panic. My keys were lost. I'm not too crazy about my usual routine being disrupted. Okay where was I when I last had them? That would be on Friday, when I measured the back opening to my van to see if I can get the picture in it. So out to the locked car to I went. Fortunately, I have a spare car key in my purse. No keys! Gone, including the house key, don't know where the spare is either. I put Angel into her crate and off to church I went hoping that I will remember what I did with them. No luck there, even went through my purse again. So on the way out I remembered what my mother would do, so I got calm and said a prayer and asked Him to show me where they were, It worked. I went out to the car and opened the back door and there they were sitting on top of Angel's crate. It's happened before. I just have to trust that everything will work out and it will.

With that settled we went shopping. Angel was almost out of food. Yesterday morning she was shivering. She needed a new sweater, because the ones that I had were too small. She could hardly move in them. Off to Pet Smart for the food. We checked out the sweaters there. There was a nice selection, 17 to 20 $$$ +, I don't think so. A woman I met there said that she found some at WalMart for $5.00. That's where I went.

That's her "luggage" on her harness.(it is for poopie bags)

In one of my earlier posts I had mentioned wanting to get a carrier so that I can take her into a store instead of leaving her out in the car. I would usually leave her at home in her crate, but she spends so much time there I don't think it's fair to her. Anyway I found a carrier that was missing the shoulder strap and wheels. It scanned at nearly $30.00 , but I spoke with a manager and got it for $15.00. At Pet Smart they were $50.00 and more.

She's not too crazy about it, but I put her in it at home and told her to "stay" and she did.

I just left the door open so that she can get used to it. I think she will get used to it. The front, back and one side are mesh and there is even a zippered pocket for her "stuff". Even our animals have "stuff". LOL Later on I may paint it to match my own luggage.

The rest of the afternoon I watched Sleepless in Seattle, and finished the rest of the cards, or so I thought. I found some more, but that's okay. These are the Scottish Crest for Clan Donald, so they don't need to be done right away. I also put together the stationery that have to be colored, I'll do those at work. There are a lot of extra copies that I can toss, but I think that I will put them aside for the grandkids. They are always asking for paper to color on. As you all know my daughter, Mellissa and her 3 kids will be moving back here to Sacramento, probably late December.

In answer to Pidge, no, I haven't tried or seen any moon flowers. I'll keep an eye out for them, thanks for the suggestion.

That's it for today and probably for a few days. One of my longer work weeks is coming up.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Actually following through with what I said I would do, and worked in the yard. After cutting the grass and then watering the grass in the front yard (the sprinkler heads have to be fixed), and watering the rest of the plants on the patio, I started another project outside. A few months ago my son, Ted cut down the lemon tree. Now I have to dig out the stump (a little at a time). It's one way to get exercise and get something accomplished. The planting areas have to be redefined too.

Trellis is to the left of the whole that I'm .digging.

I think these are calla lilies. To the right is a camellia bush/tree and then next to that is the trellis with the morning glories.

While watering the plants, I accidentally got Angel wet. It was kind of funny, she took off and found her way over the backyard fence and around the back of the house to the back door, through the doggy door to hide in the house. She is NOT crazy about water.

In the middle of the day, there was a nap and off and on through out the day I would work on painting cards, only 5 left.

That's it for today. Sorry, it must be pretty boring for my readers, but that's what my life is like. Every day is one day closer to the dream. I'll just finish this post and spend some time catching up on reading blogs. (They keep me motivated. Thanks to you all for that.)

Friday, October 8, 2010

Another Friday almost over, and I forgot to mention yesterday that I called my brother in Alaska to wish him a Happy Birthday. I really do miss him. It has been over ten years since we have seen each other. He is the one that had the back surgery and is doing well. Thank you all for your prayers at that time.

I finally finished the painting. It is called "Resurrection".

I started it about four years ago, and for some reason it was put aside. In fact all my artwork was put on a back burner. When thinking about it, it might have been because I could have been depressed. Then last January I had bariatric surgery and have lost nearly 50 pounds, a total of 86 pounds from my highest about 2 1/2 years ago.

Since then I am no longer on any medicine except for supplements and feeling so much better than I have in a long time. I still have another 50 or 60 to go, but it took me 50 the years to get where I was, so it may take awhile to get to where I want to be.

I digress. Back to the painting, It originally started out to be a Baptism theme and once I started on it it evolved to what it is, From the picture it is hard to see, but within the flames there are suggestions of images of the things in this world that we are resurrected from. On the 23rd of this month our church will be celebrating it's 50th Anniversary and I am going if to give it to the congregation at the celebration dinner.

Linda (my art teacher friend) stopped by to take a look at the painting. She likes it. Thank you Linda for helping me get past the depression and encouraging me to get back to creating. I also want to thank all of my followers for their suggestions and encouragement too.

I also made some tapioca (sugar free) from scratch. It takes quite a while. You start by soaking the tapioca pearls for 3 hours before adding all the ingredients and then cooking it for about another hour on a very low flame. It is really good. I will divide it into 4 oz servings so that I can take some to work. Those GLAD containers sure come in handy.

There really isn't anything else that happened today, just catching up on painting more cards. They should be done this weekend. Didn't get any work done outside, there's always tomorrow. We'll just see what happens. I'll let you know if the grass gets cut or the weed eater works. LOL

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Another work week gone. It went by fairly quick, except for while it was happening. Even painting cards in between calls didn't seem to help. It just dragged by slooowly. This was National Customer Service Week and at work it is a big thing. Every day there was something going on.

Sorry it's so dark, but it was 4:30 am and the flash didn't work.

This is what was waiting for us when we got to work on Monday morning, It was breakfast, all kinds of things from bagels and croissants to fruit and juices. The rest of the week we could "earn" tickets for a raffle by participating in various activities. The prizes were lots of gift cards for all kinds of stores and restaurants, even a day off with pay. On Friday there is lunch for everyone, but I won't be there, it's my regular day off.

Today I ran up to El Dorado CA to CLEARBAGS for the bags for my cards. (Thanks Mel) Things are starting to come together as far as the inventory for the craft fair at work on November 17th is concerned. I'm still painting cards, but the last one is in sight.

Once those are done, then I have stationery to color. When all those are done then I can concentrate on prints.

I did take a look at Etsy.com. I'm not sure that I understand how it all works. If there is anyone out there in blog land that has a sight, it would be helpful to find out if it is worth the time and effort, what kind of response to expect and what kind of time is involved in setting up a sight, taking pictures of product etc.. This business is just to supplement Soc.Sec., so I don't want it to be overwhelming. It would be nice to only do the work and have someone else do the marketing, but that won't be happening. Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Tomorrow should be a good time to finish adding some things to the Big Painting. I thought it was finished, but after living with it for a while, it "talks" to you (me). It won't be much. It will be cool in the morning and it shouldn't take too long. I will really be glad when it is DONE. Then, finding a way to transport it to church will be a challenge. The actual measurement is 4' 6" x 5' 6". Hopefully it will fit in my van without having to take out the seats. My son has a truck and he might help if it doesn't fit. During the rest of the day there is some work to do outside.

This weekend my son will be camping at Pismo Beach with his Truck Club. They go there every year. After reading Margie's and Bruce's blog, I would have liked to go too, but I don't do the tent thing anymore. Besides there is too much to do here.

I hope that everyone out there on or off the road is having a great week and will have a greater weekend.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

This morning I worked on the yard ,cut the grass, had to use the weed eater and used the blower to clean it all up. I have a WORX system .It's battery operated weed eater, blower and chain saw. All of them are light weight and easy to handle. Also got all the plants watered.

Half of the day had me running errands, needed some groceries, visit to the bank, trip to Home Depot for a metal cutting tool for my Dremel. Angel got to go there. She loves to shop. Everyone thinks she is sooo cute, so she gets lots of attention. she is all tuckered out.

The rest of the day I worked on note cards. There are a lot of them that need to be painted and it takes a lot of time.

Lots to do! Actually posting this on Sunday morning. For some reason I was unable to download pictures off my camera. I thought that I was doing something wrong, because it was almost midnight and I rarely stay up that late. I must have been really tired with outside work and then painting on the cards. When I'm doing art, time just gets away from me.